Letting Your Guard Down
by CarbyLivesOn
Summary: set in season 8 prelockdown, before things got all complicated. chapter 4 is up!
1. Letting Your Guard Down

**Letting Your Guard Down**

There's no such thing as a calm day in the ER, John Carter realized, looking around at the crowded rooms and overflowing board. Only two hours till he was off, but at least he wouldn't be bored. Sighing, he picked up the chart he needed and made his way to Exam 1. "Hey Abby, could you give me a hand here?" he called across the room.

Abby glanced up from where she was hanging some IV fluids and nodded. "Sit tight, Mrs. Norris. I'll be back later to check on you." Her patient nodded weakly, then reached up and took her hand, the look in her eyes thanking her for all she had done. Abby smiled back and left to go find Carter.

She joined Carter in the exam room and picked up the chart of their patient. "How are you gonna handle this?" she asked him in a low voice.

"I don't know," Carter whispered back. A young kid with a terminal disease was not something he enjoyed handling.

* * *

There was no way Susan Lewis was going to take crap from anyone, especially from an idiotic patient who was drunk beyond his means. She slapped his hand away from her butt and gave him a look. 

"Get me some hard restraints, and watch your back- he can't keep his hands to himself," Susan told Chuny. Pulling off her gloves and tossing them into the nearest trashcan, Susan sighed and ran a hand through her hair. There was nothing like a thirty-six hour shift to bring out her inner beauty. Ha. She looked like crap and she knew it. Oh well…

Susan was yanked out of her daydreams by Kerry Weaver. "Susan, I need a word when you're free."

"Okay, I'm off in fifteen. I'll page you," Susan said, and then Weaver was on her way, the clacking of her crutch on the floor rapping holes in Susan's head.

"Great," Susan muttered to herself. She still hadn't forgiven Kerry for making them go to that stupid seminar. Maybe if she were lucky, she'd get fired and could get a better job. It was probably only wishful thinking, however.

* * *

"Abby!" Carter yelled as he chased her out of the ER. She stopped and turned around to see what he wanted. "Wanna get some coffee?" 

Abby smiled. "Well… I was just gonna go home and watch some TV and eat takeout…the weather's not really too nice today."That was the understatement of the year. The sky was black, almost ominous, and already the snow was punding down hard.

"Can I join you?" Carter asked, using that look that he knew she couldn't resist.

Laughing, Abby said, "I guess I can't talk you out of this, huh?"

"Nope"

"Okay, let's go." Abby took the arm he held out and they walked to the L. Some people thought it was weird that her best friend was a man, but hey, when did Abby ever care what other people thought. At least she'd have someone to spend Christmas with.

"So how was your day?" Carter asked.

"The usual..."

"Oh," he answered, not wanting to push the subject. Abby noticed him visibly stiffen, so she took it upon herself to cheer him up.

"I think I still have some pie left in my fridge from the restaurant we went to last night," she told him.

Carter's eyes lit up with joy. It was amazing how such a little thing she could say to him could make him feel good. "Do you have the apple or cherry?" he inquired, though he would have been perfectly happy with either.

"Both."

He laughed and grinned, a huge smile that took up his whole face and rubbed his tummy. "I can't wait."

* * *

Sitting on the bench waiting for the metro, Carter started into a long talk about the history of the metro system, not noticing that Abby wasn't listening at all. 

"…Did you know that Chicago's metro is know as the 'L' because most of its network is elevated? I think that's the strangest thing I've ever heard"

"Hmm," Abby mumbled, her mind was on a patient at the moment.

"Oh my god," Carter whispered in a low voice all of a sudden.

Abby turned to face him, the tone of his voice clearly indicating that something was wrong.

Carter had a split second to react, and he did the only thing he could. He kissed Abby.

He quickly moved so that he was covering most of Abby's body, making her practically invisible as they sat on the bench. Now they were both enjoying the kiss. Their tongues intertwined, and with the ease that they made out with, one would never imagine that this was the first time they were kissing.

Finally, minutes later, they broke apart, gasping for breath. "Carter…" Abby whispered throatily. "W-What…?"

Carter still hadn't moved, and his face was mere inches away from hers. "Is he gone?" he asked quietly. The look of bewilderment that crossed Abby's face indicated that she had no idea what he was talking about.

Abby was out of breath, but she asked him with her eyes what was wrong. Carter slowly pulled himself up and sat down next to her on the bench again.

"I saw someone," Carter started to explain. "I didn't want them to see you."

Abby felt numb inside. So Carter didn't want to kiss her, he was just hiding? But it had felt so… right. And when their lips connected…. Abby could swear that he was enjoying it, too.

She turned her head away so that Carter didn't see the look on her face. So much for never letting her guard down.

* * *

_**A/N I hope you guys like this one. Your opinions are important, so please review! Story or not? Most likely I will continue this, and I will try to post more on my other fics soon.**_


	2. A Good Day

**Chapter 2: A Good Day  
**

Abby stood in her kitchen later that night after having left Carter and the El station as fast as she could, making up some dumb excuse about a cold as she went.

The ride back to her apartment, although short, wasn't short enough. As soon as she got on, she started wondering who Carter had seen, and why he had chosen to _kiss_ her of all things.

Abby shook her head and came back to the present. Sighing, she grabbed a piece of pie out of the fridge and sat down to eat it on the couch while watching old Fear Factor reruns. Little did she know, that, at the very same time, Carter was doing the same thing at his place.

* * *

Abby's POV 

Avoiding someone is harder than it looks. Especially when that someone just happens to be your best friend. I haven't talked to Carter since that day he kissed me. I just keep making up excuses and working around him. I guess someday I have to talk to him. But not today. And probably not very soon either.

The only problem is that I really want to know who Carter saw. Was it someone he knew or someone I knew? I must say, I am a really curious person. So I decide to go talk to him as I see him entering the lounge the next day.

"Hey Carter."

"Hey!" said Carter. He's so surprised to see me actually talking to him that he doesn't know what to say.

"Listen, I-"

"Hold on, Abby," he cuts me off. "There are some things that I need to tell you."

I nod, as if to encourage him to continue.

"That day last week… after work… I shouldn't have done that." Ouch. That stung. Is he really telling me that he regrets kissing me?

"Not that I didn't enjoy it," Carter told me. Well, that made me feel a little better.

"I just want to know-" I began.

"Just listen, please," Carter said again.

He grabbed my arms and pulled me down onto the couch next to him. "The man that I saw that day at the station… well, it was Brian."

"What?" I asked. "Are you sure?"

"Well, he looks just like the mug shots," Carter said. So not the time for your lame jokes, Carter.

"Oh… and you were hiding me?"

Carter just gave me one of his weird looks; where I couldn't tell what emotion he was trying to convey.

"Yeah…" he said. And I think maybe I shouldn't feel this way, but… it's just that… I liked it."

"Liked what?" I thought I knew what he was talking about, but I wanted to be completely sure.

"This," he said. Leaning over just a little bit, Carter smiled and looked straight at me with a question in his deep brown eyes. Slowly but surely he eased closer to me. I couldn't take it anymore. I placed a soft and gentle kiss on his lips.

Pulling away, I looked up at him. Neither of us spoke for about five seconds. It was definitely the longest five seconds of my life. Then I gained my confidence back.

"Who were you hiding me from this time?" I asked.

Carter just smiled and put his finger under my chin, then captured my lips with his again.

An amazing feeling spread throughout my entire body. The warmth radiated all the way to my toes as we kept on kissing. I wanted to stay like this forever.

* * *

Carter's POV

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be kissing Abby Lockhart. But that's exactly what I'm doing right now!

We went on making out for at least five minutes, until Chuny came in to tell us about the trauma. We quickly jumped apart.

"Hey Carter, we got a multiple GSW coming in, ETA is 7 minutes." Chuny left the room, but did a double take and came back in when she realized what we were doing on the couch. "Were you two just... you know?"

"What?" I asked innocently. Then Abby put her arms around my shoulders possesively and started kissing my neck.

Chuny ran out of the room, obviously disgusted.

"What was that for?" I said.

"It was the only way I could think of to make her leave," Abby stated simply.

I grinned as she moved to sit on my lap and pressed my lips to hers. "Something tells me this is going to be a good day," I said.

* * *

_Sorry this chapter is kind of short, but i wanted to get something up. Thanks SOOOO much for the reviews, they really make me feel good! I hope you guys like it so far, please read and review._


	3. Still Friends

**Chapter Three  
**

Carter's POV

It was official. Abby and I were dating. And I was on cloud nine.

It had been two weeks since I kissed her that day on the platform at the el station We were spending all of our time together. I definitely had nothing to complain about. Abby, however… I think she was having some doubts.

"Carter," she asked one morning as we lay in bed basking in the sunlight that came shining through the window.

"Unh," I grunted. I wasn't really feeling too peppy that morning.

"John!" she said as she put her hand on my arm.

"Yeah?"

"I have to ask you something."

"Okay," I nodded. "What's wrong?"

"It's serious," she said.

Oh god, I thought. She's going to give me the talk. The one about where we're going, what we're doing, and all that good stuff.

"All right, what's bothering you?" I asked.

"Well, I was wondering… if this doesn't work…"

"This?" I was confused.

"This, like… you and me together."

"Hey, don't say that," I told her. "Of course it's going to work."

"Okay, but… if it doesn't… we'll still be friends, right?"

"Always," I smiled.

She smiled back. I pulled her into my arms, right where she belonged, and kissed her on the top of her head. "Always."

* * *

Abby's POV

"So how's… you and Carter?" Susan asked as we sat on the couch in the lounge sipping coffee.

"It's good. Really good."

"But…"

"But what?" I asked

"There's something wrong," Susan said.

"Well… I'm just really scared that, you know… we won't be friends anymore," I told her.

"Don't worry Abby, I'm not jealous. We can still be friends."

"No, not you and me, I was talking about Carter and me." I laughed. "But we can still be friends, too."

"Oh," she said. "I get it." She thought about it for a second. "But Carter and I broke up and we're still friends," Susan said.

"Yeah, but you two weren't really _together._ I mean, you didn't really do anything."

Susan laughed at my comment. "Sure, we didn't have sex, but did you two do it yet?"

I blushed and turned my head the other way.

"When, this week?" Susan asked. I shook my head.

"Last week?" I nodded.

"Last Monday? The day you two got caught making out in the lounge?"

I laughed at the bewildered expression on her face. "And every day since then," I told her.

"My god, Abby!" she was so amazed that I started cracking up.

"We didn't do it the whole time we were dating, but you two did it on the first date!"she told me. Susan and I started laughing our heads off, even though it wasn't really that funny.

"If it makes you feel better, it was my idea."

"Your idea?" Susan said.

"Yeah, I was the one who wanted to do it." I informed her and took a sip of coffee.

"So," Susan said, her voice taking on a serious tone. "Is he any good?"

"Susan!" I exclaimed, spitting my drink all over my pants.

Just then, who else but Carter walked into the room. He gave me a confused look as Susan started giggling at his perfect timing.

"Hey, you," Carter said, giving me a peck on the cheek before moving to he corner of the room to go get a cup of coffee. "Sorry to interrupt your… whatever you were doing," he said. "Carry on."

* * *

Carter's POV

Well that was weird, I thought as I left the lounge and walked over to admit. They were probably talking about me, I mused.

And of course they have good reason to. I've never seen Abby so happy, and I'd like to think that I'm mostly responsible for her newfound happiness. In fact, some of the staff here at County have even come up to me and asked what was up with her. Well, I think we've been the topic of discussion ever since Chuny walked in on us and then told the whole hospital…

I was brought out of my daydreams when a trauma came in. Nothing like a little blood to make your day even better.

* * *

Abby's POV

I walked up to Carter, who was standing in front of a computer at the admit desk. I put my arms around his waist from the back and stood on my tiptoes to peek over his shoulder. "What are you up to?" I asked.

"Just checking up on some things," he mumbled.

"Wanna grab some dinner?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, turning around to face me and grabbing my hands. "I forgot our shifts ended at the same time today. I have to cover for someone."

"Yeah, that's all right," I said, trying not to look too disappointed. "I'm kind of tired anyway. I'll just go home and get some sleep."

"I'm sorry Abs," he repeated.

"No, really, it's fine. Maybe I'll catch up with Susan."

"Okay," Carter said. He leaned down and gave me a soft, sweet kiss. "Can I come by tonight?"

"Sure you can," said Frank after witnessing our kiss. "Just promise not to do that in public. It's making me sick!"

We laughed and I headed out the door.

* * *

_Sorry it took a while to update. I tried to make this chapter a little longer, though. I hope everyone likes it. Please review, I'm still not sure where to go with this and any ideas would be appreciated._


	4. Anniversary

**Chapter Four: Anniversary**

_Thanks so much to everyone who reviews me. You guys rock my world!_

* * *

Carter's POV

I walked the familiar path up the front stairs and into Abby's apartment building. I smiled at the thought of her; she was probably waiting for me. But just in case she was sleeping, I knocked softly.

"Hey," Abby said, pulling open the door just enough to pop her head through. "Can you wait here for a second?" Though it was a strange request, I nodded and she closed the door. Sitting down on the welcome mat, I pulled out the present I had wrapped for her that morning and ran my finger over the shiny wrapping paper. It was perfect for her.

"Okay come in," I heard Abby call. I stood up, opened the door and walked into the room.

Candles softly lit every corner of the room, and a bottle of nonalcoholic champagne was sitting on the table.

"What's this for?" I asked.

"I know you might not have noticed," Abby started.

"Happy two week anniversary," I told her. She just smiled. I could tell that she was touched. That I remembered, and that I was there.

"I got you something," I said, pulling the small box out of my pocket.

"I have a present for you, too," Abby told me. "But it's not something I can hand you."

"Oh, okay," I said. "You know what? This present can wait. I wanna see what you got me."

"Good choice," Abby said. She walked closer to me, and I took a step towards her. My jacket, umbrella, and finally clothes were abandoned for kisses, first slow and then increasingly faster, until neither of us could wait any longer.

"Mmmm… we… should…" Abby mumbled.

"Yeah," I said. I picked her up and we made our way to the bedroom. What a memorable anniversary it would be.

* * *

Abby's POV

"Amazing," I told Susan with a smug grin on my face. "It was absolutely amazing."

"Wow," Susan said. "Sounds like you two are great together."

"It's different with Carter," I told her. "He's not like the other guys… I actually knew him before we dated. We're friends. He's basically the best friend I have."

"Thanks," Susan said sarcastically, swatting me on the leg with her stethoscope.

"Hey, I have high standards for best friends. Great sex is just one of them," I said.

Susan just laughed. "Anyway," I said. "You never told me about this new guy you've got."

She turned red and stood up. "Well, it looks like my break is over. I should be heading back to work if I don't want Weaver to fire my ass. Lord knows we couldn't have that."

"Oh come on, just tell me who he is," I implored her. "Is it someone I know?"

"Maybe."

"Someone at the hospital?"

"Maybe."

"Ohmygod you're dating Luka!" I yelled.

"Shhh keep it down!" Susan yelled back. "How did you know?" she whispered.

"I didn't until now. It was a lucky guess," I told Susan. She glared at me.

"Don't tell anyone, not even your boyfriend. He has a really big mouth," she told me. Picking up her coffee mug, she headed towards the door. "You should really work on that," she called over her shoulder.

* * *

Abby's POV

"How was your day?" I asked Carter as he let himself into my apartment with the key that I had given him.

"Not bad. Only a few traumas and a minimal amount of crazy drunks." he said. "Pretty low-key, but I'm still pretty tired." He sat down on the sofa next to me, placed his head softly on my shoulder, and took my hand.

"Aww poor baby." I smiled over at Carter. "I'll make you feel better." I pulled him over so that his head was lying in my lap. Stroking his hair, I settled back into the couch cushion and closed my eyes.

"Yeah I think this is much better," he mumbled, already half- asleep. To our dismay, about thirty seconds later, both of our pagers went off.

BEEP- BEEP. BEEP- BEEP.

"John."

"I no work," he mumbled into my shirt.

"Carter get off me, that beeping's driving me crazy."

BEEP- BEEP. BEEP- BEEP.

" 'Kay," he said. "I'm up, I'm up." Groaning, he pulled himself up from my lap into a sitting position.

I went over to the table where our pagers were sitting and turned them off.

"What a surprise. It's the ER!"

* * *

_I was going to make up a bad excuse for how long it has taken me to update. I'm really sorry. I'll try not to let it happen again. Anyway, please please please review, I need incentive to ccontinue. I hope to make this story into a long one. Happy Easter everyone!_  



	5. The Craziest Day

Abby's POV

Somehow, we managed to reluctantly pull it together and get back to the ER. We rounded the corner to the ambulance bay, tired and worn. I couldn't believe my eyes!

The ER was empty; all the patients, doctors, nurses, and staff members were shivering outside in the cold. I let go of Carter's hand and ran up to Susan, who was shouting commands into a walkie-talkie. "What happened?" I asked.

Susan turned to look at me. "Abby, good thing you're here. There was a shooting and the police made us evacuate so they could work. Apparently, we're supposed to treat the patients out here!"

"What? How? Is everyone all right?" inquired Carter, who had come to stand behind me and was listening to the news.

"Yeah, nobody was hurt, just a little shook up. As for helping the patients, I don't know what to do, I called you guys because we only had a skeleton crew for the overnight, and I'm sorry, I know you're exhausted, but I didn't know what else to do." I had never seen Susan look so out of it in her life.

"It's okay, we'd be glad to help," I assured her.

"Thanks, can you take the rule out MI and the LOL with hip pain?"

"Of course," Carter replied and took the charts from her outstretched hand. He motioned for me to follow him as we walked across the ambulance bay to treat our first patient.

* * *

There's nothing like a good trauma to really get your adrenaline pumping. Carter and I stayed to help out for 3 hours, until all the patients had been transferred to other hospitals or departments, or sent home.

"What a night," Susan sighed. "The police inspector says we can re-open in the morning if everything is safe." She looked so beat, I thought she would fall asleep right then and there.

"Go home Susan," I told her. She willingly obliged and headed towards the el station. I turned to Carter, who was now much more awake than he had been four hours ago. "I need to get something out of my locker. Come with me?"

He nodded and we walked inside to the lounge, then sat down on the couch while I opened my lock and searched through the locker. After sifting through mountains of crap that I needed to clean out, I found my cell phone under an old bag of stale pretzels.

"You know, your life would be a lot easier if you just cleaned that thing out once every five years," Carter told me as he laughed at my disorganized mess. I walked over and gave him a playful smack on the arm.

"That's not funny," I told him. "You know I have issues with cleanliness."

He grinned and pulled me down onto the couch. "You know…" he said. "I'm really not so tired anymore."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, and I think the way you search through that locker of yours is pretty damn sexy." Was he kidding? It looked like a war zone. "In fact, everything of yours is pretty damn sexy."

"Are you trying to seduce me?" I asked.

"Is it working?" he started kissing my neck in the one spot he knows I can't resist.

"Carter, we're in the ER," I reminded him as I arched my back and extended my neck to receive his slow, sensual kisses.

"It's deserted, and it's not like we haven't done it in here before?" He continued the kissing, and now I was getting kind of worked up. Besides, his reasoning made a lot of sense. Against my better judgment, I gave in.

I pulled his head up to face me and captured his lips with mine. "You think we can do better than last time?"

"I know we can," he stated. Before I knew it, we were naked, on the couch, in the doctor's lounge in the county ER. My life is insane.

I'm not going to lie. It was amazing sex. Probably some of our best work. Afterwards, we snuggled together on the sofa to rest for a few minutes. I closed my eyes and….

* * *

Carter's POV

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! OHMYGOD! WHAT ARE YOU _DOING_?" We bolted upright at the sound of the screaming.

Shit! Kerry Weaver was standing in the doorway of the lounge. It only took me a split second to realize what had happened. Abby and I had fallen asleep and it was morning. And another split second later, I noticed that we weren't wearing any clothes. This was _not_ good.

"We were just-" "I'm so sorry, we-" Both Abby and I started to talk at the same time.

"Quiet!" Kerry yelled. "You have ten seconds to get dressed and go home. Ugh, I am _so_ glad that it was me that caught you and not a resident or someone. Do you know the potential liabilities of this? Never mind, just get dressed, get the hell out of here. I'll see you two for a meeting before your shifts this afternoon." She stormed out and slammed the door.

I looked over at Abby, sitting next to me, still with that look of surprise on her face. I couldn't help it. I started to laugh.

"John! It's not funny! We'll get fired," she told me. "This is the single most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me. Stop laughing!"

I obeyed her, only because I didn't want her to yell at me later. We got dressed and left the ER. Luckily almost no one was there, so we made our hasty exit without any trouble.

* * *

Back in my apartment, I sat down with a mug of coffee as Abby glared at me. We hadn't talked the whole way home, and I was beginning to think she might never speak to me again. "I am so mad at you right now," she said from her perch on the end of the living room armchair.

"Me?" I asked. "You're not going to take any of the blame?"

"Why should I? It was your idea, you made me do it, god you make me do the stupidest things and yet here I am, still with you after all the trouble you got me into." What was her problem? It's not like I forced her to, it takes two people to have sex.

"Look, I'm really sorry," I said. "Let's just try and forget about it."

"Forget about it? I'm not a billionaire like you, Carter. If I lose my job, I'm screwed." It was at that exact moment that I realized we were having our first real couple fight.

"You're not going to lose your job. And even if you do, I can help you out." Trying to reason with her when she's mad is impossible.

" 'Help me out'? You're going to 'help me out'? I'm not one of your charity funds, Carter. I don't need your money."

"Abby, you know that's not what I meant," I said. "I was trying to say that, if you ever do need to, you know, save some money or something, you could always move in with me."

"You want me to move in with you?" her tone softened when she comprehended what I had said.

"Of course," I stated simply. I decided to bare my heart. "I love you, I love spending time with you, waking up next to you."

"Oh," she said quietly. I walked over to where she was standing and put my arms around her. She fit perfectly in my body, her head buried in my chest and my head resting on hers.

"You don't have to, I know it's sudden and we haven't been together long. I'll be happy with whatever you can handle," I said.

"You're not just saying all this stuff to get on my good side again, are you?" she asked.

I looked deep into her eyes. "Would I?" She shook her head no.

"Sorry I flew off the handle," she said.

"Let's talk about it later. For now… we can just… be together."

"I love you too," she said softly. It caught me off guard, but in a good way.

This was probably the craziest day of my life, but I don't think I would change one thing.

* * *

_Sorry again for the long wait. I think all of my other stories are on an indefinite hiatus_._ Hope this chapter is good, feedback is greatly appreciated. My exams finish soon, hopefully I can get into writing more this summer. Thanks so much to all of my readers and reviewers. You guys are amazing!_


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